DUNGEONMasters parks!

Nicole Howard smiles coyly and rests her hand on the long sword that hangs at her side. Tonight she finds her fortress surrounded by tens of thousands of enemy troops. Even her six traveling companions and her skills as a rouge will help her little in the coming battle. \n"When you awake the next morning and realize that where the enemy's encampment was, 20 miles away from you, it has moved right outside your fortifications," a commanding voice sets the scene. "You look out and see 80,000 men. You are summoned immediately to Gen. Judith's tent…"\nHoward, 19, is one of seven people gathered around a table littered with dice, pencils and papers bearing statistics like "hit points" and "armor class." She and her friends are engaging in a game of the classic paper-and-pencil role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons. Everything about this gathering is a far cry from the stereotype of the pimple-faced nerds with thick glasses and pocket protectors sitting in a dimly lit basement, whiling away their afternoons rolling dice and cracking inside jokes about their "magic missiles."\nHoward and dozens of other young people from the Bloomington and IU communities gather nearly every Friday evening to play fantasy games at Avalon, a Bloomington fantasy, science fiction, horror and anime store. While most of their peers are out killing brain cells and forgetting their week with copious amounts of alcohol, the Avalon regulars roll dice to slay dragons, play cards to vanquish enemies and commit armies of miniature warriors to war on tabletop battlefields.\nKeith Pendly, one of the store's owners, is entirely unsurprised that teenagers and twenty-something's are drawn to his store, even on Friday nights.\n"It's a vacation for the mind," he said. "It takes all your thoughts that you have pent up and allows you to use them."\nHe said fantasy games like Dungeons and Dragons make players use their minds to work out situations. Players have to work in teams and work themselves out of the situations that they are placed in. Pendly maintains this builds friendship, camaraderie and critical thinking. Partying on the weekends doesn't give nearly the fulfillment of a fantasy game.\n"Instead of going out and partying on the weekend and blowing $80 and getting home and being disappointed," he said, "you're sitting here with a group of friends and having fun in a good, clean environment."\nPendly said that the stigma surrounding games like Dungeons and Dragons is unwarranted. The game's reputation for being satanic has no merit, he said.\n"If one Satan worshiper happens to play D&D, then they say, 'Oh, it's a satanic game,'" he said. "But you never hear about the thousands of Christians that play."\nHe also called its image of being "too nerdy to play" ridiculous. He said once someone watches a game of Dungeons and Dragons, the person usually realizes that its "pretty cool." \n"It's all about ego," Pendly said. "And once people get past the ego part of it, they have the best time of their lives."\nPendly and his friend Chris Mappin opened Avalon just six months ago after they moved to Bloomington and realized that it only really had one gaming store -- the Game Preserve. \n"We'd always talked about opening a store and what it might have," he said. "Once we came to Bloomington, we realized that it had such a large population of gamers that this was a perfect place to open one."\nAvalon's layout is a bit unusual. The front half of the store is stocked with guide books to playing role-playing games, miniatures, fantasy trading cards and science fiction movies. But, divided by a wall laden with replicas of swords from "The Lord of the Rings" movies and other medieval weapons, is the back half of the store. This side is devoted entirely to playing games. Card and miniature players gather at the rows of plastic tables and chairs set up in what likely used to be the stock room. Adjacent to the primary rooms, are two secondary rooms for role-players. It is in one of these rooms that Howard and her adventuring companions gathered to play out their quest. \nSophomore Michael Tam, a delegate for Wizards of the Coast, the company which produces many of the games played at Avalon, said the store's floor plan makes it unique and a more fun place to play.\n"I like this store in particular because this is one of the first gaming stores I've been to which really has a space open for gamers," he said. "They have a lot of different services than a conventional gaming store would offer."\nBoth Mappin and Pendly got their start in the fantasy gaming world with Dungeons and Dragons, though they have since branched out their interests. Avalon hosts fantasy games of many different sorts. But the biggest are Dungeons and Dragons, Magic: The Gathering, a collectible card game and HeroClix, a strategy game played with miniature figures which Pendly describes as, "like chess on crack." \nAvalon also has a room devoted to the "Halo 2" video game which features wireless controllers and two large projectors and 110-inch screens. \nPendly said the video game room often brings in a different sort of customer than the typical fantasy gamer. He said some of the video gamers view the fantasy gamers as nerdy, but more often than not, "Halo 2" players are won over.\n"We've converted quite a few," he said. "They saw these people role-playing and thought it was really cool, so they joined in."\nThe store doesn't just draw young gamers, either. Dean Roberts, who runs the HeroClix games at Avalon, is 44 years old. He comes to Avalon because he's met a lot of friendly people, he said.\n"I've been to other places in town and this, by far, is the friendliest place and the most fun to go to," Roberts, said. \nHe also said playing games at Avalon is cheaper than a movie. Playing HeroClix costs $5, but the store gives out packages of miniatures as prizes. Magic: The Gathering tournaments cost $5 as well and winners also receive prizes. Playing "Halo 2" costs $5 per person per hour or $10 for four hours and two sodas. Playing Dungeons and Dragons at the store is free.\nThe store has a regular gaming schedule. Tuesday through Friday players gather to play Dungeons and Dragons. Though Pendley said people come to play every single night of the week. Avalon hosts "Halo 2" on Monday evenings, and Magic: The Gathering tournaments on Tuesdays and Fridays. For a complete schedule visit the store's Web site, www.avalonkingdom.com. \nThough some people frown on fantasy games like Dungeons and Dragons as being nerdy, Pendly said these games are a great hobby.\n"This is a hobby and not only that, it's a chance to meet new people," he said. "If you want a challenge for the mind, and you want to talk to a bunch of other creative, intelligent people, this is where people come"